Phantom Maneuvers
by caldera32
Summary: The particle accelerator exploded and Danny Phantom is conducting an invisible investigation, but how separate will he remain once it becomes clear something remarkable has happened to one Barry Allen?
1. Past is Prologue

A/N: This story occurs in an AU where the events of Phantom Planet did not take place as shown in canon (the full explanation will probably come up in a future fic) - though the Fentons have since learned Danny's secret. This timeline assumes things progressed naturally from the year DP first aired meaning Danny is now 28.

* * *

Danny ran his hands over a blackened section of the roof, spectral skin tingling with the strange energy still lingering in the area. It had been nearly a week since the particle accelerator exploded, but Danny could see why FEMA had classified STAR Labs as a class 4 hazardous location – and it wasn't because of the charred spire and partly-missing roof.

His parents had explained the whole thing to him before he came but all he remembered was some vague stuff about dark matter and unpredictable consequences - not that they hadn't spent several days putting up one hypothesis after another, but nothing could be proven until someone actually went to assess the situation. That was his job.

To be fair, investigating the unknown had become more and more of a family affair since his parents had learned his secret. Sam and Tucker had resisted working with them at first but they'd gotten used to it, especially once they'd all turned 18 and could give up the ruse of staying safely tucked away. Their parents still weren't happy about it, but at least the Fentons were supportive – and Sam's grandmother.

This time, however, he was the only one on the scene. His parents were halfway across the country, probably still arguing over whether or not the effects of the explosion would be more interesting than any results the machine would have gotten while functional. Sam and Tucker were in Dakota City checking out reports of unusual activity while they were both there for a conference on green tech.

It felt odd to be flying solo on this one, especially in a new city, but also nice to know his family had confidence in his abilities – not that Jazz hadn't called him twice that morning to make sure he'd traveled the ghost portals safely and wasn't having any anxiety. It was amazing she could still have the energy to worry about him like that now that she had her own practice with actual patients.

Activity at the entrance pulled his head out of the clouds and he went invisible, floating down to watch.

A van and a car had pulled into the garage, three people pulling a gurney out of the former while a fourth helped a man out of the passenger seat and into a wheelchair. Danny didn't recognize the person on the gurney or the man and young woman running beside it but the other three worked here at STAR Labs – or owned it, in the case of Dr. Harrison Wells. He'd seen the three of them on the newscast from the night of the incident, though the only name he knew was Wells'.

He couldn't fathom why they'd be bringing someone here rather than the hospital, but chances were it was related to the explosion and the energy wave it had released. Danny followed them, invisible and intangible, spending a few awkward moments with the unresponsive guy on the bed and his five silent escorts as they rode the service elevator before exiting on – level 600? What, was there a skyscraper's worth of underground lab here? This place could only be 20 floors tops - though there might be more levels in the spires than he'd thought, or maybe the spires were counted separately since they didn't connect to each other? Even then, 600 seemed... and he should definitely be worrying about more important things right now, like where everyone had gone while he was thinking about how many floors the place had.

Fortunate for him they weren't far and the single hallway made it clear how to get there – not that he couldn't have gone straight through the walls.

"I appreciate your feelings Detective West, but you must give Dr. Snow room to work. You can watch from here with your daughter."

Dr. Wells' voice was calm and rather more cool than seemed warranted considering the medical instruments squealing in the background; so he wasn't a friend of the patient? Maybe he just felt guilty since his machine had caused whatever was wrong with the guy...

Raised voices escaped the next room where the STAR Labs crew worked over their patient, who seemed to be seizing. Danny squirmed as the man - Detective West? - comforted his daughter, both of them sneaking glances at the adjoining room before swiftly looking away. He backed out of the room when the woman started crying, burying her face in her father's chest.

The patient's condition would probably provide valuable information for his investigation, but he didn't need to intrude on their private moments. Hopefully there'd be opportunity for him to get some intel later. For now he'd take a look around and see if there were any more of the affected here or anything else that could help.

 _Better get started; I've got at least 600 levels to check out._


	2. A Slow Start

The search was a bust. A large portion of the structure had sustained heavy damage and it didn't look as if anyone had set foot in there since the incident, the halls and rooms strewn with blackened hunks of metal and broken glass. Only a handful of spaces showed any signs of having been used recently, which was odd. Surely a place this large had more than three people manning it? Of course, it could be that the bulk of employees had been injured or were choosing to stay away. Something to look into later along with the mystery of level 600.

He had, of course, looked for clues on that matter during his search but it was impossible to determine how levels were being counted since the signs were electronic and there was no power running to the uninhabited parts of the building. Who uses lcd screens for normal signs? It's not like the floor level is something that typically changes... Whatever.

For now he found himself drifting back toward the only other people in the building.

Detective West was seated in the back room next to the bed, his daughter leaning against him in sleep. The patient – he should probably find out this guy's name – was still unconscious. Now that he looked at him more closely the man was probably close to his own age, though still a little younger. At least he looked peaceful now.

Dr. Wells was staring at a monitor in the main room while his two assistants discussed something in hushed tones, probably the test results Wells was so enraptured by. Danny glanced over them but this really wasn't his area of expertise; he'd either have to wait until these three reached some conclusions or he could try to copy the data and hope his parents would be able to glean something from it. For now staying nearby seemed like the best option.

The woman - Dr. Snow? - yawned and Danny backed out of the room as he stifled his own. Now that he thought about it he should probably take off to get something to eat and rest in human form after spending most of the day flying around invisible. He stuck his head back into the main room and glanced at a monitor – 1 am. Were they going to stay up all night? Well _he_ didn't have to.

It didn't look like anything was going to happen any time soon and even if it did he could catch up on it later. Time to see if they had a Nasty Burger in Central City.

* * *

Big Belly Burger's food was at least as greasy and salty as Nasty's so it had that going for it – even if the secret sauce wasn't quite as good.

He leaned back in his chair, exchanging texts with Sam and Tucker. Apparently there'd been some sort of accident in Dakota City and several people were exposed to a mutagenic gas. What they'd uncovered sounded horrifying, but also much more interesting than what he'd seen in Central thus far.

He offered to come out and help with their investigation but Sam shot him down; Danny could easily imagine the quips Tucker would be spouting had they been meeting in person. (Probably "not married yet but she's still got you wrapped around her finger". Tucker was fond of that one, even if it had earned him Sam's boot heel on his toes more than once.)

A notification popped up and he opened the newly-arrived text from his parents. They wanted to know if there'd been enough residual energy for him to get any readings. Readings... Right. Readings with the scanner his parents had slipped into one of his belt pouches.

When the ghosts had (mostly) settled down and his activities had started taking on a more investigative bent his parents had made a – well, it was a utility belt, but never let Tucker know he called it that himself. It had come in handy many times, though other people had a habit of putting things in the compartments without explaining what they were or telling him they were there. He pulled the scanner out, hoping it had somehow managed to do its job without his help.

No such luck.

He decided to ignore his parents' text for now; he could always claim he had been asleep – it was almost 2 a.m. after all. Speaking of, he should find a place to crash. He could always pop into the ghost zone and stay with one of his friends there, but he found himself wanting to stay in a hotel like a normal human. A normal human with no luggage aside from a utility belt coming in at 2 in the morning.

Whatever; it's not as if anyone was likely to question it.

He sent a goodnight text to Tucker and Sam, tossed his trash, and set out to find a cheap place to spend what remained of the night.


	3. Blackout

He slept in a bit longer than he intended without a ghost alarm or laboratory incident to wake him, but still took the time to enjoy the continental breakfast that came with the night's stay before checking out. He may or may not have also kept a couple pieces of fruit for later.

Danny strolled in the general direction of STAR Labs and took in the feel of the town. Overall it seemed a rather bright and cheerful place even though the current mood was subdued. A radius of at least two blocks around the lab was completely deserted – aside from the few inside STAR itself. He considered the damaged structure from a distance before ducking into an alley and going ghost. This time he remembered to turn the scanner on so his parents could receive whatever data it picked up.

Which reminded him he still hadn't answered their text... Well, he could always claim it hadn't come through. It never ceased to amaze him that his parents could invent a dozen unfathomable devices in the space of a week but still had trouble with social media and texting. His dad always said the buttons were too small for his hands – which was fair since two of Jack Fenton's fingers together were larger than a lot of smart phones on the market. Danny thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't gotten that big, though his appearance had become closer to Dan's than he was entirely comfortable with. Still, he'd be fine so long as his skin didn't turn blue and his hair didn't burst into spectral flames.

A car engine started up somewhere inside the parking garage and Danny went invisible, flying inside as Detective West drove out. Judging by the set of the man's face it was unlikely any progress had been made in his absence.

He floated into the main room and hovered behind Dr. Wells, who was (still?) staring at test results that didn't look any different than last night's as far as Danny could tell.

The latino assistant was nowhere in sight but Dr. Snow was in the makeshift infirmary glaring at the heart monitor as if it had personally offended her. West's daughter was still seated beside the gurney, though she now clutched a cup of coffee like a lifeline.

"So what does that mean?"

Dr. Snow's expression softened as she looked at the other woman, though she didn't meet her eyes.

"It means he isn't flat-lining; his heart is still beating. The equipment must have been damaged by the power outages and... everything else. I'll have Cisco take a look at it."

"But at the hospital-"

"Iris, they had trouble there too, right? You said the power flickered every time his heart stopped. What if it was the other way around and the monitor failed every time the power went out?"

 _There's an interesting factoid to file away. Also, Iris – another name to remember._

"Maybe..."

Dr. Snow hesitated for a moment, still not quite looking at Iris.

"You should probably go home and get some rest. There probably won't be any change for some time."

Iris shook her head.

"Barry is my best friend; he's practically my brother. I won't leave him."

 _And Barry. Assuming the other guy is Cisco that's all names accounted for._

"He won't be alone; I'll be here, and Dr. Wells – probably Cisco as well."

"But he doesn't know you."

Danny didn't feel the need to continue eavesdropping on that particular conversation and instead drifted back over to Dr. Wells who was now scribbling on a whiteboard – or whatever you call them when they're transparent. Sure they look cool, but how practical are clear boards really?

He'd have to come back later and take pictures of that board, but for now he'd better do some flying around the particle accelerator itself. Any remnants of that strange energy should be most prevalent there.

...

After a few loops around the building he checked in on the STAR Labs crew, finding them in essentially the same places as before. He'd seen Cisco when he went down to check out the accelerator, staring at the door into the ring but not opening it or moving from his spot the entire time Danny had been there. There was probably a story there, but he should really be making a better effort to stay out of these peoples' personal lives.

Speaking of, it was about time he visited the hospital to check on some of the others injured that night. Hopefully there was nothing to find – and obviously nothing as dramatic as the "Bang Babies" Tucker and Sam were looking into - people who developed extreme mutations and, in some cases, became the very substance they'd been exposed to – but it was a good idea to check into it. At the very least he should see if he could find out anything more about the power outages Dr. Snow had been discussing with Iris.

* * *

From what he could tell most of the injuries were commonplace, the result of car accidents and property damage caused by the energy wave and the panic it had caused. But there was one patient who caught Danny's eye.

Farooq Gibran. A quick internet search told him Farooq had been found unconscious after the explosion apparently having fallen from some height. His two friends hadn't survived that night, but their injuries seemed to indicate severe electric shock. The newspaper article he'd found didn't have an explanation but mentioned there'd been scorch marks on the concrete beneath their bodies. Now Farooq lay in a hospital bed, most of his body in either casts or bandages. Only one arm was free – well, relatively, various tubes and instruments were attached there out of necessity.

If he hadn't overheard the earlier conversation about power outages at the hospital he probably would have thought nothing of it, but the monitor connected to Farooq's pulse oximeter kept flickering. It may have been his imagination, but he thought he saw small bolts of electricity passing from the clip on his finger and into his skin each time it happened.

It was probably nothing, but Danny had this feeling...

He made sure no one conscious was within sight of them before poking around in his belt pouches, locating the power bank he kept for emergency charging situations. He considered his approach for a moment, then settled for just pushing the open port up against one of Farooq's bare fingers.

Danny yipped in surprise as the patient's eyes flew open and he sat upright, eyes an icy blue that sparked for a moment before darkening as his eyelids descended and he slumped back against the bed. One of the instruments was squealing now and Danny took his leave before the space filled with attendants, finding an abandoned public area to un-ghost and sit.

If he wasn't wildly jumping to conclusions this was a new kind of weird. Actually, it reminded him a little bit of when his schoolmates had developed ghost powers...

He shuddered. He may have been mildly envious of Sam and Tucker's exciting mission, but one anomaly was enough; the whole hospital better not be like this.

His stomach chose that moment to announce that it was time for dinner.

 _Big Belly Burger, here I come..._


	4. Real-life Superheroes

Sorry this chapter's so small after the wait; I wanted to get this up before going on vacation. Also, there will be a time jump next chapter so it made more sense to stop at this point. Hope you enjoy - See you all in a couple weeks!

* * *

Danny pulled out his cell phone and had just finished unlocking it when it rang. The little girl waiting behind him to use the soda machine laughed when he startled and sloshed root beer all over his arm. Being the mature adult he is, Danny confined his reaction to sticking his tongue out at her before answering his phone.

"Hey Tucker; I was just about to call you guys. I think something-"

"Dude you are gonna freak!" Tucker was shouting, too excited to wait for Danny to finish talking. "Those Bang Babies we were checking out? Some of them are getting super powers! Today we saw one that straight up _shoots fireballs_ and there was this other one who totally controls electricity – this town is getting so whack!"

"Whoa, that sounds-"

"I know, right? The guy with the electricity – I'm texting you a photo – calls himself 'Static' and he is a real-life superhero; I am so excited!"

"Tucker," Danny covered his mouth and phone with one hand, "you are part of a real-life superhero team."

"Pff. I know, man, but this is different."

"Uh huh." His cell's notification light flashed and he opened up the picture. No wonder Tucker was so excited; from what he'd heard about Dakota City a black superhero would be the perfect role model for the place and its youth. "He looks a little young."

"No younger than you were." Danny smiled at hearing Sam's voice. "Tucker's off fanboying; that'll probably take all night. So whatcha got, ghost boy?"

"Well, it's kinda funny..." he glanced around, deciding a spot in the outdoor seating are would be safe from listening ears. "I may also have a guy who controls electricity – or at least absorbs it. Can't be sure yet since he's in the hospital but it's something to keep an eye on. Should I come out there, maybe talk to this Static kid?"

Sam took a moment to consider before answering.

"It might be a good idea; Tuck and I will scope him out and let you know. What about your side; need any support?"

"It's looking like a waiting game over here. A lot of people were hit by the blast and aside from that one guy I haven't seen anything strange; it'll probably take time."

"Okay, so look around tomorrow and if there's nothing new you can take a portal over."

His grin expanded at the thought of seeing his fiance. It had only been a few days, but still...

"Looking forward to it already."


End file.
